UPDATE
Thailand's tsunami warning buoy, which broke free earlier this year in mysterious circumstances, is to be returned after maintenance to its original anchored position on December 12, Thai media reports.
Original Report
TSUNAMI warning towers on Phuket beaches at Kamala and Nai Yang and in Phang Nga at Khao Lak and Bang Maruan sounded unexpectedly today, sending tourists and residents fleeing to higher ground in panic.
There was screaming and yelling, according to witnesses. Hundreds of students fled schools close to the coast. Shopkeepers, police and officials fled, too.
When Phuketwan called the National Disaster Warning Centre about 11.30am, an hour after the false alarm, a spokesperson said: ''We know nothing about it. Can we call you back?''
National director Somsak Choasuwan did call back soon after, asking Phuketwan for information.
Talk of the tsunami warning spread rapidly, with parents rushing to pick up their children from coast schools. However, the lifeguards at Nai Yang said they had heard nothing and were surprised to learn about the alarm among locals.
A tsunami in Indonesia that killed hundreds without warning last week has alarmed many people in other parts of the Indian Ocean region.
Phuket Governor Tree Ackaradecha said that it was fortunate the false alarm sounded in the daytime, not during the night, when the danger to people fleeing would have been greater. He said it was important for people to be certain when an alarm was real.
''The Bangkok authorities need to send someone to Phuket and Phang Nga quickly,'' he said. ''It's not something we have any control over.''
While those who died last week in Indonesia were mostly very close to the epicentre of the undersea earthquake that triggered the localised three-metre wave, people have been led to expect a warning.
Dissatisfaction about Thailand's Andaman coast tsunami alert system became more widespread earlier this year with a practice drill on Phuket and at other key points in the provinces that were struck by the big wave in 2004.
The problem then was that some of the towers failed to sound, or sounded after the drill had finished.
About 220,000 people perished in the December 26, 2004 tsunami, including 5400 residents, tourists and Burmese laborers along Thailand's Andaman coast.
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Why was there a false alarm? Was it a hoax? Why not on all beaches? Why the Governor need people from Bangkok, what is out of his reach? Isn't there a signal for de-alarm or alarm over?
Posted by Lena on November 5, 2010 15:23